Notes

CHAPTER ONE: Gracefield House


The sun shines through the window, "Guys! Wake up! It's morning!"

Multiple yawns spread across the room as kid sat up on their beds, the words "good morning" were heard from time to time as a few kids leaped off their beds.

A few of them rushed to the bathroom, while two or three of the older kids would stay behind and look through the closet, taking out clothes and a few pairs of boots.

After a while of looking through the clothes, the older kids went to the bathroom, and a few of the younger ones came back, they got ready, mostly rushing. A few waited for the older kids, while others were tying their boots, or brushing their hair.

A short girl with light blonde hair came out of the bathroom, walking next to a slightly taller girl with light brown hair, "Rosa! Rosa!"

A little girl with ginger pigtails rushed towards the pair of girls, "Can you tie my shoes?"

"Of course, Ava, go ahead, I'll see you at the dining room!" The girl with blonde hair, whose name was supposedly Ava, nodded and ran off.

Rosalina stayed behind, the picked up the younger girl, sitting her on a bed, and crouched down to tie her boots.

"And... done!" The little one smiled cheerfully, "Thank you!" She ran off.

Rosa walked outside where she was met with a small group of kids, all different heights, ages, everything, yet they still considered each other family.

That's how it always has been here in Gracefield House, it's a truly wonderful place, welcoming to any child.

In the small crowd, someone stood out to her. A boy, slightly taller, with messy, curly, cider colored hair, and emerald green eyes, "Lewis!"

He turned around, recognizing the girl almost instantly, "Rosa! Morning," she walked a little faster and caught up to him, "Morning, is everyone awake already?"

"Yeah, Angel woke us up, got ready, and left, leaving the rest of us with the burden of helping the others-"

She hit his shoulder lightly, "Don't call them burdens, they're our siblings!" Lewis winced, holding his shoulder for a second, "Sorry," he smiled sheepishly.

They made it to the dining room, a tall man, with hair almost the same as Lewis's, stood next to the long dining table, next to him stood a slightly shorter man, with black hair, and to his other side, stood a woman, with short cream colored hair.

Her blue eyes would scan the room, from one child to another, while the tall man would keep his gaze focused on a single chair, but nobody sat there, yet.

"Father! Brother! Sister! Good morning!"

Father broke out of his trance and turned his head to look at the shorter girl, "Morning, Rosa.." the woman, bent down to her height, "Morning dear, did you sleep well?"

She nodded cheerfully, "Of course! Why wouldn't I?" A small pause took place, the silence was so loud, the voices of the other children could barely be heard.

"Oh, of course, silly me, asking such a question!" The woman stood back up to her original height, smiling sheepishly.

Brother turned towards the two, "Rosa, take a seat, we'll be having breakfast soon, we're just waiting on the others..." She looked up a him and waited for a moment, "Of course, Brother..."

She walked over to the empty chair, and sat down, next to her sat a boy with messy black hair, blood red eyes, focusing on the table, "Angel, morning.... you okay?"

He sighed, "I'm fine, where's Lewis?" She stopped to think for a moment, "W-wait- he was with me just a minute ago- how'd I even loose him?"

Her head spun like a fan around the room, searching for her friend, "There!" She pointed towards the small boy, smiling as he looked up to Sister and Brother, "What's he talking to them for?"

"Probably being nice and greeting them, you know, SOME people have MANNERS," Rosa looked over at him, "Matter of fact, I said good morning to everyone, and you're the only one who didn't say it back!"

He scoffed and turned back to the table, "Hey... is it... Liam?" He nodded quietly.

Liam was their sibling, recently, they heard he was getting adopted, he was the most social out of everyone in the orphanage, he knew everyone, and was friends with all of them.

But he was specially close to Angel, since the day Liam had gotten here as a baby, those two had been inseparable, and now Liam would leave.. forever.

"Look... wherever he goes... he'll be happy... I know he will, he always found a way to make things better... so, don't worry, okay? Plus, I'm sure he'll write to us every day..."

"We said the same thing about all the others, not one letter has come by..." Rosa frowned, "Well- they have families now, they go to school, and have things to do, they wont always have time for-"

"Hey, Rosa. Angel, morning," Lewis sat down next to Rosa, "Sorry, I got a little caught up, what were you guys talking about?"

They were consumed in the silence, "Now let's appreciate how all 34 of you are able to life happy lives here," Father said, fighting the silence that surrounded them.

Everyone took a moment to pray, and then they ate, murmurs were heard as conversations progressed, but the trio ate in silence.

...

"AGE 11. TYPE 1. PLEASE ANSWER EVERY QUESTION WITHIN 10 SECONDS. WE WILL NOW BEGIN." Father turned off the lights, all the kids focused on their screens.

In a room close to the classroom, Sister played with a few of the three year old kids, and upstairs, Brother kept the babies calm.

Father would always stay in the classroom though, keeping track of any movement out of the ordinary. Seconds, turned to minutes, and then to hours.

Father turned on the lights and everyone stopped as their screens turned off, "I'll be handing back your test scores... Rosalina-" Rosa looked up almost immediately, "Lewis," he had the same reaction, "Angel," he didn't even flinch, "Adrien, and Oliver,"

Praise could be heard throughout the room, "Rosa did well again!"

"Angel's getting better!"

"I wish I could do as good as Lewis..."

"I can't believe Adrien did so well!"

"Oliver's so young yet he still gets a perfect score!"

"Alright, calm down, it's free time, those who'd rather stay inside, go ahead, you can go to the library, or with Sister in the play room, I'll be going outside to keep an eye on the other kids going outside."

Almost everyone went outside, Avery suggested tag, and of course, they all agreed, of course, Lewis was it.

He was the most agile and the fastest in the orphanage, and for ages Rosa tried to beat him at tag, but failed every time. Well, there was one person who could outrun Lewis: Angel, but he never played, and when he did on rare occassions, he wouldn't even try.

Surprisingly though, he agreed this time, he held the pocket watch, and the kids were all ready to run, Angel gave them a nod and handed the watch to Lewis, then, they all scattered throughout the forest.

Rosa's idea was hiding in plain sight, she climbed up on a tree that was really close to the house, she figured that Lewis would think she's farther away from the house.

Angel ran into the forest, and just kept switching his hiding places every few seconds, the other kids hid usually in groups, or pairs.

About 5 minutes had gone by, and all the younger kids had been caught, only a few were left, after a few more seconds, Rosa thought she might actually win this time.

Then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, which startled her, causing her to fall forward, she put our her hands, saving her face.

Lewis leaped off the tree, and Rosa stood up, "How'd you find me so quickly?!" He chuckled, "You're predictable, hiding in such an obvious spot," she pouted and dusted off her skirt, "Who's left?"

"Let's see..." he paused to think for a moment, "Keith and Adrien, oh, and Angel," her eyes widened in disbelief, "YOU ALREADY FOUND EVERYONE ELSE?!"

He smiled and ran off to find the others,